By Sarah Claypool
IOWA CITY, May 5 – A recent poll found that a substantial majority of University of Iowa students are unwilling to appear on MTV reality shows and believe that going on a MTV reality show would negatively impact future job prospects.
The poll, which surveyed 200 University of Iowa students through e-mail, was conducted in the month of April by students in Dr. Qingjiang Yao’s Mass Media and Public Opinion class. The poll had a sampling error of 5.4%.
The remarkable popularity of MTV reality shows like “Jersey Shore” and “The Real World” inspired the students to investigate Iowa student’s opinions of the consequences of appearing on such shows.
Only 36.7% of students said they would be willing to appear on a MTV reality show. 80.4% thought that going on a show would negatively affect their future job prospects.
Interestingly, the poll found gender differences in willingness to appear on a show and the perceived impact. Males were more likely to respond that they would be willing to go on a MTV reality show and were less likely to think that it would have a negative impact on job prospects.
The unwillingness to appear on MTV reality shows and the opinion that doing so would harm the chances of getting a job is likely influenced by students’ perception of the portrayal of MTV show participants. 68.8% of UI students thought that MTV reality show participants are portrayed negatively.
One respondent of the poll commented, “I wouldn’t go on one of those shows because you are being portrayed negatively to the nation.” Another thought that “employers could easily get an opinion about you just if they heard you were on a MTV reality TV show.”
The results of the poll suggest that University of Iowa students consider the future consequences of appearing on a MTV reality show and most have concluded that going on such a show would be damaging to their career prospects.